An ordinary day with a gory ending

Overcome with grief: Koay (second from left) being comforted by family members soon after identifying her sons’ bodies.

PETALING JAYA: By all accounts, it was an ordinary day at home with the maid smiling at the neighbours and police verifying later that she was loved by the children in the family.

“Agnes was very liked by the family and the boys really loved her,” Sungai Buloh OCPD Supt Junaidi Bujang said, referring to the Indonesian maid who had been accused of killing half-brothers Koay Jia Hong, five, and 18-month-old Melvin Selvam Joseph before committing suicide at their home on Tuesday evening.

Statements recorded from the boys’ family even indicated that the maid was a devout Christian, he said.

“From the family’s statements, we can assess that she was of stable mind. We are still determining what actually transpired,” he said.

He said the police, who was establishing the motive for the killings, found no forced entry in the house then.

The police have ruled out foul play. Furthermore, the family’s four Rottweilers were guarding the house at the time of the tragedy.

“The doors were locked, no belongings were stolen,” he said, adding that there was no misunderstanding between the maid and the family.

“The only thing that wasn’t allowed by the mother was the boys sleeping in the maid’s room.”

Supt Junaidi said the incident was believed to have occurred between 5.30pm and 7pm.

Police also believed that Agnes died a slow death.

“There were air bubbles in the blood vessels. When air bubbles travel to the heart and block the blood flow, the person can die of air embolism. We are still waiting for the post-mortem report,” he said.

Supt Junaidi said the police were working with the Indonesian embassy to ascertain the identity of the maid.

He also said a post-mortem on the two boys revealed that Jia Hong’s throat was slit once while Melvin had his throat slit twice.

Their 27-year-old mother, a coffeeshop operator, came home at about 7pm and found the boys sprawled in a pool of blood. The maid was also dead with her throat slit.

A 39-year-old helper, Siti Aisyah Nasution, who worked next door, said she saw the maid earlier that day at about 2pm.

“I have never met her before. She was sweeping the floor. We smiled at each other and got back to our work,” said Siti Aishah, who was cleaning her employer’s gate then.